2004-2007 Cadillac CTS-V Appearance Mods Discussion, Mod to Flasher for LED's on turn Signals in Cadillac CTS-V Series Forum - 2004 - 2007; does this do anything for the rear turn signals as well? or is it strictly related to the drl's?...

Re: Mod to Flasher for LED's on turn Signals

Ok, what did I do? I cut the pin out of the module a long time ago since I hate the DRLs. So, I haven't had DRL orange school bus look. I bought STS-V fog/signal housings and thought I'd clean up the look of the other lights up front.

I bought a pair of regular #3157 bulbs that are chrome covered orange for the signal so that it's silver looking in the clear housing and flashes orange for the signal, and put the clear bulb back in the fog. ok, all good.

I also bought a pair of #194 LED bulbs for the corner light in the headlight housing (aka city light) in 6000k white to match future Xenon bulbs that I plan to buy for the headlights. ok, all good. yes, they're blue-ish compared to the stock (4300k?) Xenon bulbs, but that's fine for now.

I also bought a pair of #194 LED amber bulbs for the smoked side markers, so that they're clear off and flash orange...and have the same LED look at the corner light to match LED look for parking lights. uh oh... troubles. They appeared to work, at first, for both parking lights on when I turned it for the fogs only...and tested the signal and it flashed. all seemed fine. a few days later, I notice one of the amber sidemarker LED is out. neither parking or signal works. Then, a day or so after that, the other one stops working. WTF?

What needs to be done to make the LEDs work in the signal/parking side markers on the side of the bumper cover (and have the DRL pin removed since I don't like DRLs)? might be easier to just buy a set of regular #194 bulbs that are chrome covered orange or just orange ones and call it day. sidemarkers are smoked anyway, so not going to see the orange.... but I'd like to match the LED look of the corner light! namely since I drive in the AM/PM of my commute when it's dawn/dust and I rarely use my headlights...and use the fogs only with the parking lights of the corner light and side markers!! ggrrr...

Is the LED in the corner / city light spot causing an issue?

Is it the resistor mentioned in this thread that needs its trace cut?

I already lost 2 LED bulbs and don't want to pop more of them until I figure out what's going on. I put the stock bulbs back in and everything works fine. so, no issues with the car...bulbs just popped, which seems odd to me for LEDs.

Re: Mod to Flasher for LED's on turn Signals

The LEDs will only draw the current required. If the bulbs say they will work on 12 Volts then you don't need a Voltage divide circuit.

The reason for removing the resisitor from the circuit was to eliminate the "Blown bulb check". There are 2 ways to do this, remove the resistor (disable the curcuit) or put a resisitor in-line (Or maybe parrallel, didn't do it so don't know) with the LED (increase the current draw). If a bulb goes bad then the flasher will start flashing quickly. The reason it knows this is because an incandescent bulb draws a specific current (Don't remember what it is off of the top of my head) When a bulb goes bad it opens up so no more current draw from that bulb and the circuit senses the current draw has dropped and it starts to flash quicker.

You have a different issue. I would check to make sure the bulb is capable of running at 12 VDC and if it is then maybe a different manufacturer/distributor. I used some bulbs from one company (I think it was Autolumination but it was a while ago so I forget), for example, and I found they didn't last very long. They were cheap but so was the quality.

Re: Mod to Flasher for LED's on turn Signals

I would just try a different brand and see if you have better luck.

BTW, I forgot to ask, did the LEDs too seem too bright or did they seem correct? If they are too bright then you could put a resistor in series to drop the voltage and current going through the bulb. If the brightness is correct then I wouldn't recommend it because it will dim the LED.

Re: Mod to Flasher for LED's on turn Signals

I have nothing to compare if they were too bright or dim... namely being in smoked sidemarkers. To me, I was hoping they'd be brighter in the housing. They seemed to be normal LED light output when in the socket only when I tested bulbs as I put them in.

Vendor is taking them back for value for exchange of other bulbs. I'll probably just get incandescent chrome amber and call it day fir sidemarkers...use the remaining for other LEDs for interior.

Re: Mod to Flasher for LED's on turn Signals

I would just try a different brand and see if you have better luck.

BTW, I forgot to ask, did the LEDs too seem too bright or did they seem correct? If they are too bright then you could put a resistor in series to drop the voltage and current going through the bulb. If the brightness is correct then I wouldn't recommend it because it will dim the LED.